Six for Sick Days
by joudama
Summary: These are six drabbles written from prompts on my lj and ij when I was sick and stuck at home. The six prompts were Valentine's day, fanclub tour planning, chicken pox, drinking, something with Tseng and Zack, and the Sephlings discover ice cream.


**Title:** Six for Sick Days

**A/N:** These are six drabbles that I wrote because I was very, very sick and so stuck in bed, but my brain wanted to do something. So I put up a request for drabbles on my lj and ij, and these are what I got.

--

**Drabble 1:** Second Day Chocolate

**Word count:** 241

**Prompt:** clueless!Seph and shy!Cloud and Valentine's day

**Warnings/Notes:** Romance and sap give me hives. Also, I'm also a card-carrying member of the Overthinkers' Club: since "Valentine's Day" wouldn't exist on Gaia, I did a bit of research on similar festivals and have combined Tanabata/Qi Ye and Sepandarmazgan with a touch of Yu B'Av for kicks. I've made it into a three-day-long holiday of sorts (7th, 14th, 17th), where on the first day is for sending the signal that you're available (in this case, wearing white), the second day for giving presents, and the third for giving presents in return if you like the person who gave you a gift. The name of the holiday, by the way, is "Tryanur," which comes from the Sanskrit word "tryah" (three) and "anura-", the root for "love." I chose Sanskrit since the name of the City of the Ancients is "Ajit," which is derived from the Sanskrit "ajita," meaning "invincible.

-

"I _still_ do not understand why this holiday means that mountains of chocolate are left at my doorstep," Sephiroth said, shaking his head. "I'm not even a woman. From what I am given to understand, it is women who traditional receive the presents on this day."

Angeal laughed. "That hair of yours is close enough to a white dress for people's tastes. And it's just an excuse to let the person you like--that you have romantic feelings for--know."

"Why not just tell the person rather than unceremoniously dump chocolate in their vicinity and run?"

Angeal let out a snicker. "Because you're a scary sonovabitch? And turn off the glares before I sic Genesis and _Loveless_ on you. You _know_ what he's like on the Second Night."

"And that is precisely why I've been avoiding him."

Angeal snickered again. "So _that's_ why you've been so hard to find today!"

"I have to get rid of these before he sees it. You know what he's like. He is competitive even in this." Sephiroth let out a tired sigh. "...I don't even like chocolate."

That was when Cloud was very, very happy both SOLDIERs had their back to him, too busy staring at the mountain of chocolate that had been left outside of Sephiroth's office door. He backed away very, very slowly, got on the elevator, and pushed the buttons as fast as he could.

He'd...just eat the chocolate he'd bought himself.

--

**Drabble 2:** Nifelheimlich

**Word count:** 726

**Prompt:** What is Shinra going to try to market as Nibelheim's good point when it tries to make a "fangirl dream tour" involving the home towns of the three generals and their protege?

**Warnings/Notes:** I had a fever when I wrote this. That's my story and I'm _sticking_ with it. And the image for the "chibi-Gen" comes from Gackt chibis that were sold at his concerts a few years ago.

-

"This is a meeting for _what_?" Rufus said, looking pained. A marketing meeting for a SOLDIER hometown dream tour? Rufus seriously wondered what kind of idiot came up with something like that, and not only that, was proud enough of it to pitch it to the heads of ShinRa. "I...I shouldn't be missing school for this, you know..."

"No excuses, boy," his father said, giving his son the eye. "You're going to be the president one day yourself. Real world experience is for better for you than a class."

"You just don't want to go yourself," Rufus muttered under his breath.

His father just smiled. "Now you see the perks of being president. The ability to _delegate_."

-

Rufus wondered if he could just gnaw off his own arm to escape.

"Vanola--"

"_Banora_!"

"--Banora has got apples and all those nice apple-related gifts. Banora Ale, for example. We've already made mockups of special bottles with either Genesis' or Angeal's face, with both of them together as a special, rare, collector's item bottle. Lu, the mock-ups!" the marketing woman hissed.

Her assistant, Lu something or other, immediately pulled out several bottles from her suitcase, and Rufus wished more than anything else that they weren't _empty_, because the gods all knew he needed booze for this.

Chibis. The bottles had _chibis_ on them. A scowling, chibi-Angeal was somehow deeply wrong, but not quite as wrong as the chibi-Genesis with a tiny little _fang_ of all things, and holding Loveless. Or sitting reading _Loveless_. There were different chibis on each of the nine bottles--three for chibi-Angeal, three for chibi-Genesis, and three for chibis of the two of them.

_SOLDIERS are not supposed to be chibi_, Rufus thought, vaguely horrified.

"And for Gongaga, where one of the up and coming SOLIDERs, Zack Fair is from, well, they have those Touch Me frogs."

The woman snapped, and Lu instantly pulled out a plushie chibi Touch Me frog and handed it to Rufus.

"Isn't it adorable? Our preliminary sampling has show that it will be exceedingly popular. We'll just need ShinRa to hurry up and promote Snare--"

"_Fair_!"

"--to First Class and we can begin production immediately."

"I see," Rufus said, because it was obvious that he was supposed to say something. "What about General Sephiroth?"

The marketing woman faltered, and Rufus saw his way to escape.

"There will have to be something with Sephiroth or no one will want to go," he said pointedly.

"Yes, well..." the woman said weakly. "About General Sephiroth. It was very difficult to discover his home town, but his fanclub members are quite, um, diligent." She swallowed. "And the problem," the marketing woman said, "Is that...there's really nothing IN...where was it General Sephiroth was from again? Oh, yes. Nifelheimlich."

"_Nibelheim_!" Lu hissed quickly.

"That's what I said," she said, shooting her assistant a dirty look.

"What do you mean, there's nothing there?"

"There's...nothing there. There are a lot of monsters and creepy places, but nothing that's _marketable_."

Rufus heard a choir in his head start singing Hallelujahs. "Well then. It would seem that we're finished here. Until you can come up with something to sell about Nibelheim, this is a waste of everyone's time. Good day," he said, then, "Tseng, see them out."

-

He had expected that to be the end of it, but three days later he was ordered before his cackling father and told he had another meeting to attend. And when he saw the marketing woman and Lu, his heart sank.

"Have you found a way to sell Nibelheim?" he said coolly.

The woman grinned and gestured for Lu. Lu immediately began fumbling with her briefcase and pulled out a plushie chibi...something. With long hair and a tentacle-looking things. Wearing an odd headband that said "Jenova" on it.

"This," she said, "is the mascot--or something--of the Nibelheim reactor! They have it under glass there. And Jenova was the name of Sephiroth's mother!"

"...How did you find out about this?" Tseng said sharply.

The woman smiled. "As I said. The fanclub members are quite diligent!"

"I see," Rufus said. Then gave the best orders he had ever given in his life. "Tseng...take care of this. And the fanclub."

He got up and left, and the sound of gunshots as the door shut behind him was music to his ears.

--

**Drabble 3:** A Pox on Both Your Houses

**Word count:** 877

**Prompt:** Sephiroth with chicken pox

**Warnings/Notes:** A bit of this was influenced unconsciously by a fic I read by a friend who had Seph catch chicken pox--the "Seph had a rash as a kid from a deadly poison" bit came from there, and I only realized it _after_ I wrote it. Ahh, well.

-

The problem with having been raised in a lab was that you weren't exposed to the myriad germs and bacteria that normal people were. Oh, they had done controlled infections of things, to ensure that his immune system worked properly, but they went for the big things, the illnesses that could be fatal if caught.

Wutai, however, proved just how deficient the scientists had been, however.

First it was pollen season. Wutai pollen was...as pernicious as the Wutai people themselves, it seemed, and Sephiroth spent his first spring in Wutai praying for the rainy season to come and wash the damned pollen out of the air so he could properly breathe and his eyes wouldn't itch. And he would stop leaking mucous incessantly from his left, and only his left for some reason, nostril.

It took his irritation and discomfort out on the Wutai, and earned quite a reputation for himself in the process.

But by the end of the flowering season, his immune system had adjusted itself, and so the second, third, and fourth year, things were fine. During spring, at least.

It was about a week after razing a village halfway through the war that Sephiroth noticed he was beginning to feel like he had spring of his first year in Wutai--_miserable_. Only it made no sense, since it wasn't pollen season, and things were...different. For one thing, it was insufferably hot and his throat felt rough, as if someone had rubbed it down with sandpaper. And his skin felt oddly _prickly_.

"Seph...hey, Seph. Are you OK?" Angeal asked suddenly when they were in the back of a transport truck, on the way to Gingseng from Daerimmun. "You've been scratching at yourself for the last fifteen minutes. Did some mosquitoes get you?"

He shook his head. "No, the mosquitoes leave me alone."

"Lucky bastard," Genesis muttered. "They're eating me alive."

"It's because you keep eating those bananas. Mosquitoes can smell the potassium after you eat them. So stop," Angeal said, shaking his head.

"They bite me anyway. And it's just the Wutai mosquitoes. The ones in Banora _never_ bit me," he said with a scowl.

"I guess you're just extra tasty to the Wutai bugs," Angeal said with a teasing grin. "A gourmet meal that delivers itself. Thanks for that, by the way. When you're around, they never bite _me_."

"Laugh it up, asshole," Genesis said, sticking his tongue out. "But remember, I know where you sleep." He looked over at Sephiroth. "Are you sure they didn't get you? I've got this cream that actually works against the bites. You look like you need it."

Sephiroth decided not to think about the pitying look Genesis was throwing him too hard. "Yes, please," he said, reaching back to scratch at his shoulder. Everywhere seemed to be itching horribly all of a sudden.

"Seph...are you sure it's a bug bite? Did you get a rash?" Angeal said, frowning.

"I'm not sure what could have possibly given me a rash. The last thing that did was topically-applied methanyne poison."

"And all you got was a rash and not dead?" Angeal said, his jaw dropping. "OK, so if something had given you a rash from that last battle, it's something that would have killed everybody...wait a minute," he said, narrowing his eyes and scooting over by Seph. He raised his hand and Sephiroth twitched back instinctively for an instant. "Hold still already," he said, and put his palm against Sephiroth's forehead. "Shit, you're burning up!" He immediately started shoving Sephiroth's coat out of the way, and Sephiroth stared at him, wondering both why in Odin's name that Angeal was manhandling him so, and why trying to retain his coat and dignity seemed to be too much effort--plus it was too damned hot to remain in the coat anyway. When had it gotten so hot?

Angeal let out a low curse. "Oh, shit. Seph..._please_ tell me you've had chicken pox before."

"I've had what?" he said, and it was hard to get the words out because his throat was so horribly scratchy.

"Oh, shit," Genesis said, and suddenly started _laughing_. "You're kidding me? The great hero of Wutai has the chicken pox?!"

"It looks like," Angeal said, and his lips were twitching upwards even though it was obvious he was trying not to. "And a bad case of it setting in, too."

Sephiroth had no idea what they were talking about, but when he tried to scratch at his shoulder again, Angeal grabbed his hand. "NO. No scratching!"

Genesis grabbed the other hand when Sephiroth tried to scratch his back, and the two of them refused to let go of his arms. "This is for your own good," Genesis said, far too gleefully, and the two bastards _wouldn't let him scratch _the whole rest of the way to Gingseng, no matter how surreptitiously he tried. By the end, Angeal threatened to tie his hands up if he kept scratching, and Genesis' eyes lit up far, far too much with unbridled glee at the thought for Sephiroth to risk it.

So the rest of the trip, Sephiroth tried not to scratch, and plotted to kill the both of them.

And he _would_, by the gods. Once the world stopped spinning.

--

**Drabble 4:** 3 AM

**Word count:** 599

**Prompt:** Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis sitting around drinking, while making droll observations about literature, philosophy, politics...

**Warnings/Notes:** I'm not supposed to like Genesis. WHY AM I LIKING GENESIS?! I blame _that_ on the fever and nausea. Clearly, I need to play CC again so I can remember why Genesis makes me want to punch him in the face.

-

"So what," Genesis said, his words enunciated with the careful skill that only the very drunk can have, "exactly ish yer problem wif _Loveless_? There'sha whooooole schoola study devoted to it," he ended, pointing at something, only the Heavens knew what.

"The story is trite," Sephiroth said, hoping that would be the end of it and wishing that there was some form of alcohol actually capable of getting him truly inebriated. The most he would get was what Angeal shook his head at and called 'mildly tipsy, and that's if you're being generous,' and the Heavens knew he was going to need far more than that, given how Genesis looked to be ready to go on a tear.

Angeal was no help--he had definitely settled into the Land of Happy Drunks and was holding a bottle and smiling at it stupidly. Until he realized it was empty, and then he pouted. Which...was not an expression that Angeal should ever have on his face.

Genesis was still going on about Loveless, defending it against Sephiroth's assertion that it was 'trite'.

"You jus' need to read it very, very, very carefully," Genesis said, eyes slightly unfocused, and Sephiroth found himself wondering just how many of him Genesis was seeing.

"I already know it line by line. Whether I want to or not, thanks to you," he said, taking another shot of Costan tequila and hoping this one would do more than make things a little fuzzy for a few minutes.

"Hey, all the rum is gone!" Angeal said, still pouting slightly as he upturned the bottle of rum from Junon.

"It's been gone for twenty minutes now," Sephiroth said, blinking.

"But _why _is all the rum gone?" Angeal said plaintively.

"Because you drank it," Sephiroth said, giving up on shots and just taking a drink straight from the bottle of tequila.

Genesis suddenly sighed. "You, you have no 'preciation fer litterachur," he said, pointing in Sephiroth's general vicinity.

"That is correct," Sephiroth said, hoping this would end things.

"We need more rum. And tequila. And maybe some of that unpronounceable crap the Wutai drink. And dreams. Dreams are good," Angeal said, a happily drunk smile on his face.

"So're books," Genesis said, and suddenly went face-first into the table. He turned his head to look up at Sephiroth and smiled suddenly. And it was odd because it was a real smile, like he usually gave Angeal. "Maybe you'd like th'Annals of the Silver Dragon. Main guy's kinda...like you. Not jus' 'cause he's all silvery, too," he said, and one drunken hand came out and _played with Sephiroth's hair_, holding a lock of it in a light fist and rubbing his thumb against it before his eyes fluttered and he passed out asleep, snoring lightly into the table.

Sephiroth just blinked. Repeatedly. And stared at Genesis' hand still lightly holding onto his hair. He looked up at Angeal, who was staring at them with a strange little smile on his face, tinged with that seemed almost sad; something Sephiroth couldn't begin to fathom at all.

He carefully disengaged his hair from Genesis' hand, and when he was free and looked up at Angeal, he suddenly wondered if he had done something wrong, if he should have left his hair where it had been, clutched in Genesis' hand in a way that reminded him of children he had seen clinging tightly to their mother's skirts as he passed.

"It's 3 AM. We should go back to our quarters," he finally said, not knowing what else to say, and Angeal just sighed.

--

**Drabble 5:** Easier to Run

**Word count:** 495

**Prompt:** Something with Zack and Tseng!

**Warnings/Notes:** The title comes from the Linkin Park song "Easier to Run" because when I was trying to think of what to do for this prompt, this song came on and then I got walloped by the plotbunny and HARD. So...not light and fluffy.

-

I wonder if he knew he was being sent out to die.

There was no nice way to put it or to think about it--the simple truth was that Zack Fair and Sephiroth were being sent out to die. Or at the very least, to become "combat deaths," the same as everyone who became inconvenient, who knew to much, or turned against ShinRa...and the ones who turned against ShinRa and went AWOL were "combat deaths" even if they were still alive. And being alive mattered not at all, because they wouldn't be for long.

I learned long ago, under Veld, that my job, and the job of everyone who worked for ShinRa, was to protect the company. And I accepted, long ago, that one day the only way I could protect the company might be to die, either on a mission or to keep her secrets. I could become one of those who knew too much, who could then only serve ShinRa by joining the Lifestream. And so be it; it was what I signed up to do.

Very few seemed to understand that dying for ShinRa did not necessarily mean dying while fighting in her name. As a Turk, I knew that too well--I had done my share of killing those who knew too much, after all.

Zack Fair knew too much. He knew that not everyone ShinRa had pronounced as dead was so. That alone was enough to be his death warrant. He knew people were alive, and further, he had helped them stay that way. That was a betrayal of ShinRa, and for that, Zack Fair had to die.

Sephiroth...he knew far too much and was too dangerous. He couldn't be allowed to ever 'die' as Genesis had done.

And so they were being sent to Nibelheim to die. Only the gods knew what it was Hojo had stashed in Nibelheim, but it was enough.

"Don't worry about her," I said, as Aerith spoke to some child, selling the flowers that she alone could grow in the slums. "Protecting her from any danger that might arise is also part of the job of watching her."

"You're the only one I can ask," Zack said. He turned to look at her, and was such a worried, lovestruck fool that all I could really do was laugh. It was rare, where I was, to see things like that; to see someone young who wasn't jaded.

"Hey, why are you laughing?!" Zack yelped, as hyperactive as always, and I just raised an eyebrow at him, feeling the smile still on my face.

"I'm counting on you, man," he said, and took off for his last mission.

The smile stayed on my face because it was easier to leave it there.

It was easier to leave it there.

It was easier to leave it there.

It was easier to leave it there and not think that I had just let him leave to die.

--

**Drabble 6:** Materia Ice

**Word count:** 1,178 (drabble whut)

**Prompt:** Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj discover ice cream.

**Warnings/Notes:** Inspired by my INSANE love of shaved ice. People seriously laugh at me and how I eat it like it's going to vanish at any second.

They tended to try to avoid the humans, if they could. Of course, it wasn't always possible--they always needed supplies of some sort that they couldn't make themselves--parts for their bikes, bullets for Yazoo's gunblade, assorted other necessities. They stuck to smaller towns, and in general tried to keep a low profile until Reunion.

Keeping a low profile also meant keeping Loz far, far away from town. Loz tended to cause problems.

"Please can I go? Please?" Loz asked, his lip sticking out and tears beginning to fill his eyes. "I promise I won't break anything or play with anyone this time..."

Yazoo rubbed his temples. He had no idea why this time Loz was so insistent on wanting to go with them for supplies. Normally he went and left Loz and Kadaj at camp, and things worked out best that way. Of the three of them, he was less likely to destroy the place or go into an insane rant of some sort and most likely to come back with everything they needed.

He also occasionally came back with some lust-struck fool following him, and Loz tended to enjoy 'playing' with them until they stopped moving.

"Kadaj," he began, looking over at their brother and hoping for backup.

Instead, Kadaj had a rather thoughtful look on his face. "We should all go," he said, and Yazoo felt his eyes widening slightly. "I want to see how much the Geostigma is in the smaller towns near reactors." He shot a quick look over at Loz. "And you don't want to stay by yourself, do you?" he said, and Yazoo recognized that for what it was--that Loz shouldn't be left by himself, not without something to do.

Loz shook his head to Kadaj's question, his eyes wide. "No, I wanna go with you two."

"So let's go," Kadaj said, and Yazoo felt the beginnings of a headache.

-

Things were going well--they had split up, Yazoo buying the supplies they needed, and Kadaj scouting the town with Loz there to scare off anyone with his sheer bulk who would have bothered him. Or rather, Yazoo assumed things were going well. There had been no explosions, no destruction, and no screaming, and that tended to be a good sign.

He was beginning to think there weren't going to be any problems when he left the last shop and saw Kadaj and Loz waiting for him patiently.

Or so he thought. It was more, Loz was staring fixedly at a street vendor surrounded by children and Kadaj was getting that twitchy look.

As soon as he came out, Loz barreled towards him. "Yazoo! Yazoo!!"

Yazoo felt a headache coming on already. "Yes?"

"Can I have five gil? Please?"

"What do you want gil for?" he said, blinking.

"That man is selling some kind of food and Kadaj said I couldn't just go over and take some even though I was hungry because he didn't want to make problems and he said to ask you and--"

Loz was not normally a talker at all, but when something got him wound up, he tended to do one of two things: get frustrated and start a spigot of _tears_ or get excitable to turn on a spigot of _words_.

Judging by how red-rimmed his eyes were, and the strangely pitying looks the humans around were giving them, Loz had probably been crying before this.

When he had just stopped crying it was far easier for him to start all over again, and rather than have a scene start, it was better to lose five gil than have to deal with Loz crying all over them. They did have fifteen gil left over, after all.

"All right, all right," he said. "You can stop talking. I'll buy it for you. Whatever it is."

Loz's entire face lit up and Yazoo found it was hard not to smile back. Kadaj bit his lip, letting his hair fall in his face to hide the smirk Yazoo knew was there. Let him smirk; Yazoo had always been closer in his way to Loz than Kadaj was, the one who had an easier time understanding Loz's moods and stopping his tears. They had an odd bond that even Kadaj didn't understand, even as he accepted it.

"Materia ice, one for five gil," the vendor said, smiling broadly.

Materia... _ice_? Yazoo glanced around and saw children eating bright concoctions of different colors, all gleaming bright colors like materia.

"One, please," he said, slightly warily.

"What flavor?"

Yazoo blinked at him.

"There's Banora Apple, Minheim Redberry, and Nankyo Green Tea flavored."

"Well, Loz? What kind would you like?"

Loz's lip trembled just slightly. "I don't know..."

"One of each. There are three of us," Yazoo said quickly. "Loz, you can taste them all and see which you like."

He was rewarded with another of Loz's bright smiles, and Yazoo handed over the last of their gil.

Upon watching, it was clear that it definitely wasn't materia at all; that the name came from the color of the flavoring. It was instead balls of shaved ice that then had the brightly-colored flavoring squeezed over them. The man prepared them quickly and passed three cups over to them, a plastic spoon in each.

Loz stared at the three, not sure which to take, and Yazoo picked up the green one. "Try this one."

Loz reached over and took the spoon, then took a bite. His eyes grew huge and he made a face. "I don't like that one." He immediately tried all three, and his face lit up on the bright blue one. "It's good! It's really sweet!" he said, and started eating it as if it was going to run away.

Kadaj stared at Loz and picked up the red one. He took a bite of it delicately and his eyes grew as large as Loz's.

"Kadaj?" Yazoo started, and then watched bemusedly as Kadaj attacked the materia ice with almost as much passion as Loz.

That left the green one to him, then. He tasted it warily, and suddenly understood why his brothers looked like they had lost their minds. The green one was only slightly sweet, the flavor of green tea strong and interesting. And it was cool on a hot day, melting pleasingly on the tongue and--

"Can I have another one?" Loz said, his mouth and tongue bright blue.

Yazoo shook his head. "We're out of money, Loz."

Loz's face started to crumple when Kadaj handed over his half-eaten materia ice. "Here, you can have mine."

"You sure?"

Kadaj nodded and Loz smiled again. Yazoo ate a few more bites of his, and offered what was left to Kadaj. Kadaj hesitated for a minute, then took it, and soon his mouth was a mash of red and green, blending in places into purple.

And as they left the town, Loz said, very softly, "I hope Mother leaves the materia ice man."

Neither Kadaj nor Yazoo said anything.

It was better not to.


End file.
